Pompeii...  a city frozen in time.  And what an amazing place it is.  If they forced all the tourists to wear clothes of the period during their visit - you could imagine that you had been transported back in time.  The streets and houses, shops and bakeries, even a brothel - all as they were nearly 2000 years ago.

The photo above shows the instrument of its destruction - Mt. Vesuvius - looming behind a few of the many hundreds of buildings uncovered in this incredible archeological find.  I was accompanied by Tom, a young Australian whom I met at my hostel in Naples.  We arrived at about 11:00 and by the time we left at 6:00p - and we had barely seen half of the site.  Here are some more images from our visit...
 

We strolled the well-preserved streets...

 

past a bakery...

 

and a fast-food shop...

 

on our way to one of the many public baths...

This is just the entrance - the bath itself is through
the door on the left - and featured an ingenious
(and efficient) system for heating the water.
 

Then we visited the residential section.
Most homes had a small pool built into
the floor in the main living area.

Its purpose was to catch and
store rainwater for drinking and
for watering the many private gardens.

Many of the more upscale homes also
had elaborate mosaics decorating
the floors and walls...

 

And the best of the best had large murals
depicting life in first-century Pompeii.

 

They even had an extensive sports complex...

 

as well as a huge stadium where they staged
contests of strength and agility...

 

But that was all before the eruption
that buried Pompeii under several
meters of rock and ash.

Many of the residents were literally
cut down in their tracks,
with rather gruesome results...